We are all extremely proud to have achieved this designation again this year and to remain on the top of this list of great Canadian cities. Interestingly, based on the MoneySense rankings, small towns and mid-sized cities top the list of best places to live in Canada.

Burlington Delegation to Queen’s Park

Earlier this month I led a delegation from Burlington to Queen’s Park on the GO for the day to engage with members of the Provincial government. The delegation included most of City Council, senior staff, and we were also joined at the end of the day by members of Team Burlington, Burlington Hydro, Joseph Brant Hospital, McMaster University and Chair Gary Carr and Jane MacCaskill from Halton Region.

New Street and Maranatha Gardens

This week City Council approved a staff recommendation to permit a 6 storey retirement residents on New Street known as Maranatha Gardens.

This included an amendment to the Official Plan and Zoning By-law to permit the development.

A number of residents have expressed concerns about the potential traffic impact, changing the Official Plan, and about the public engagement process.

Let me address some of these concerns.

Traffic

The traffic impacts and resulting noise have been reviewed by our staff and a study by the applicant’s consultant, concluding that the increase in traffic and noise is very minimal compared to the current traffic flow on New Street. New Street has more than enough capacity to handle any increase in traffic that results from additional residents.Continue reading →